


Among the Rough

by Zixzs



Category: Deltarune (Video Game)
Genre: F/M, Friendship, Hatless Ralsei, Hurt/Comfort, Lonely Prince, Music
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-04
Updated: 2020-05-04
Packaged: 2021-03-03 01:06:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 3
Words: 16,508
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24006331
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Zixzs/pseuds/Zixzs
Summary: A detour through an underground junkyard leads to accidents, music, and catharsis for a certain pair of Delta Warriors.
Relationships: Ralsei/Susie (Deltarune)
Kudos: 16





	1. Cleave

The Dark World was, for lack of a better word, big. Susie learned early on not to question the exact geography or physical sense of the place; applying usual logic just didn't work in what equated to a completely different dimension. What the place lacked in sense it made up for in variety. It'd probably take up to seven years to talk about everything the Dark World had to offer, ranging from weirdly blocky trees to pure abysses of blackness to dusty underground junkyards.

Relatedly, the last bit was where Susie currently found herself in. Her and the other two, Ralsei and Kris. The latter of which was currently dumpster-diving with a fervor that might've worried Susie if she even remotely cared. Who knew what they were looking for; nice as they were, that kid was weird enough that Susie didn't want to question them. The less she knew about them, the better.

Susie herself had just taken the visit as an excuse to do nothing (a welcome break from the journey, as it was), and gladly sat herself down on a rundown-looking recliner to do just that while Kris delved into the junkyard's depths. Ralsei, being the impressionable young prince that he was, had decided to join in on Kris's efforts. In spirit, at least; he didn't really ask what Kris was looking for theirself, so he ended up mostly poking around for random discarded bits of junk.

Suffice to say, Susie found it amusing to watch.

At first, Ralsei was simply astounded by how much people had thrown out over the years. The size of the junkyard wasn't too impressive to Susie; she'd seen plenty heaps of trash back home (and even outside of class, heh). Ralsei's awe quickly transformed to curiosity, only exacerbated by Kris's abrupt vigor to search through the discarded debris. Much like the Dark World itself, the place definitely had an impressive variety of scraps strewn about.

Old furniture like hand-crafted chairs and ornate desks were intermingled with crude chunks of metal from an indeterminate range of machines. Ripped clothing, blankets and cushions laid around worn-down toys, occasionally dotted with random scraps of paper and fine china. Broken lanterns, coat hangers, some smashed computer monitors, and weirdly a bunch of only the front halves of bicycles. A couple old car parts, too.

Yep, it was definitely a junkyard. And Ralsei seemed to savor every scrap of it.

"There's a lot of stuff around here," the prince commented, crouching down to the ground to inspect some old photo frame. Susie snorted, rolling her eyes from under her long bangs of hair.

"Figure that out yourself?" she questioned sarcastically. The recliner she sat on seemed unable to properly close, its blue cushions stuck folded open. While lying down might've been more comfortable, she couldn't as easily watch (and subsequently poke fun at) Ralsei from such an angle. Missing an opportunity to mess with him wasn't something she was so ready to do, if only out of habit.

"Yes, I did," Ralsei answered. Susie snorted derisively, but of course Ralsei was unfazed. He glanced around, taking in the grandeur of sheer things all sitting around. Distantly, both he and Susie could hear the desperate shuffling of Kris as they tore through junk, too deep in the junkyard to be seen and nearly out of earshot. Still neither really wanted to ask them about it. Instead, Ralsei took a few careful steps around what must've been broken glass, picking up part of a rusty bed-frame.

Susie adjusted herself on her seat, trying to sit more comfortably. The cushions felt stiff. Looking to the side, she found an empty slot on the chair, about where she guessed the lever for the "reclining" part was operated. Whatever handle she could've used was gone now. Perfect.

Some distance in front of her, Ralsei hummed, holding a retro-looking pair of headphones in his paws. They seemed to be held together by sheer tape and hope. If they weren't so dusty, Susie assumed Ralsei would've tried them on, regardless of how well they fit on his ears. She was too busy trying to un-recline her seat to currently tease him about it. Thinking, Susie reached next to her, grasping for where she'd put her ax down earlier.

A scaled hand wrapped around its handle, hoisting the hefty ax and swinging it over to the hole of the recliner. Narrowing her eyes, the girl placed her other hand around the weapon's grip, and drove the handle of her ax downwards. Some purchase was found somewhere internally, and feeling its tension, Susie pulled. The recliner didn't budge.

"I wonder why some of this stuff was thrown out," Ralsei said in front of her. Susie was too focused on yanking the grip of her ax to look up, hearing Ralsei blow out a purposeful huff of air. He must've been wiping the dust from those headphones still.

"Maybe—" —she spoke, tightening the grip around her axe now— "—'cause, I dunno, it's junk?" Pulling again left the recliner just as unamused as before. Susie grunted, shifting her legs inwards to get better leverage on her axe. After a preparatory breath, she yanked again with all her might. The axe's lengthy handle bent and shook with a definite *creak*.

Ralsei hummed again. After another few seconds of stubbornness, both from Susie and the recliner, her ax snapped backwards a short distance. The recliner, though, didn't seem to get the memo and remained folded outwards. Nothing really changed outside of Susie's frustration. After a fittingly frustrated groan, Susie relaxed her grip on the ax. The action was just quick enough for the ax's handle handle whip back into its usually straight shape, jostling the weapon. It didn't quite leave its spot inside the recliner, now sticking out like a flag pole. Hopefully it wasn't stuck there. Rolling her eyes, Susie returned her gaze back to Ralsei, then blinked.

Ralsei, either from curiosity or determination, had done a surprisingly good job cleaning off the scrapped headphones he'd found. Of course, Susie expected that he'd try to wear them despite not being connected to anything (or even having the necessary cords, now that she thought about it), and had prepared to tease him about how ridiculous he looked. The word "dork" was on the tip of her tongue. It had caught in her throat, though, when she noticed Ralsei had taken off his hat.

The green cap lay just next to Ralsei's feet amidst the disjointed parts of a desk lamp. The prince himself was turning over the headphones in his paws, fur now a clean white instead of the dark blackness usually granted by his headwear. Susie blinked again, watching him.

"These are…" he started, unsure. A confused expression washed over his face. After a brief hesitation, he moved the headphones over the length of his ears, having to stretch the device a little to get them to fit. They were evidently meant for someone a little smaller than him. Ralsei hummed, turning to face Susie again. "Like this, right?"

Susie just stared at him. It couldn't have been much of an answer, judging by Ralsei's uncertain glance to the side. Then, shaking her head, Susie gulped.

"Yeah," she told him. A delay passed, then she coughed, trying to relax. Ironically, the recliner's position wasn't helping. "You— it's lame, though."

God, that sounded lame. Like she tripped over her words while also literally tripping on the ground. And she was just _sitting_ there, too. Ralsei frowned, an embarrassed blush filling his cheeks. Another few seconds of silent awkwardness followed.

"O-oh," was all he said. Meekly, he rose his hands back up to the old headphones, taking them off before carefully putting them back on the ground. Susie watched as he reached for his hat, silent. Some part of her wanted to re-affirm how lame he looked, while another felt like apologizing. Talk about a foreign feeling. She ended up doing neither, too caught up in Ralsei's lack of a hat to really speak.

Just as Ralsei reached the pointy piece of headwear, he paused, visibly perking up a tad. Not that Susie was watching him closely enough to notice. Evidently, something caught his eye, and Ralsei straightened his back to get a better look at… something. Susie groaned to herself as a white paw returned to Ralsei's side. He was _that_ close to putting his hat back on.

Still quiet, Ralsei took a few steps through the junk, stepping around what looked to be an unrealistically huge cat toy. His stride was careful and purposeful. Susie watched him all the same, still transfixed by his white coat of fur. His horns were just a fraction longer than she remembered; the last time she'd borne witness to his hat-less self was a little while ago. And yet, she could recall the roundness of his glasses and green of his eyes like it was yesterday. The length of his ears, those subtle tufts of fur that stubbornly poked out from under his hat all the time… Susie had told herself that she hadn't paid that much attention before, and she believed herself. Up until now, that is.

Susie shook her head again, trying to clear it. Just because Ralsei _actually had a face_ under the darkness of his hat didn't mean he was any less of a nerd. A big softie, more like. She wasn't about to tease him any less just because he… looked that way. Leave that soft stuff to him. Yeah, she was the mean girl, after all.

Ralsei continued wading through the junk, only pausing for a moment to hear Kris's far-away rummaging. Susie used the pause to grip her ax again, hoping to find a better angle to work the recliner and definitely not using it as a distraction from Ralsei. There was a subtle stress in the metal bar.

After a few more steps, Ralsei disappeared from Susie's vision, hidden by a particularly larger mound of cardboard boxes that led somewhere deeper into the junkyard. Unrelatedly, Susie stopped pulling on her ax again.

Some seconds passed. Now alone, Susie glanced back at Ralsei's hat in front of her, a bright green amidst the sea of grays and browns most of the junk consisted of. The cloth seemed soft even from where Susie sat. Something about it… got to her. In a way.

"Susie!" she heard Ralsei's voice call around the corner of junk. He didn't sound as distant as Kris, only muffled by those boxes. "Look at this!"

Him being excited could've been either a good or bad sign. Then again, he seemed plenty excited by any bits and bobbles laying around. It sounded like an opportunity to tease him either way. Susie called around the corner herself, pretending to groan.

"Comin'," she said plainly. Being out of Ralsei's eyesight helped put that extra "oomph" of obstinate reluctance she'd spent so long perfecting. The girl hopped to the recliner's side, her boots hitting the ground with a _*crunch*_ that probably wasn't important. What did sound important was the unusual creak the recliner had made the moment Susie had left it. Curious, Susie tilted her head, turning around to look over the busted seat. It seemed to be shaking, almost. Her ax definitely was.

Susie lifted a hand towards the recliner, feeling its cushions. There was some kind of tension she hadn't noticed before. Maybe her weight had dampened the feeling. The possibility that Ralsei had distracted her wasn't one she wanted to consider, likely as it was. She didn't get distracted by some… fluffy boy. Just wasn't in her nature.

It wasn't supposed to be, at least.

Regardless, Susie moved her palm from the seat to the ax at its side. Recliners and axes probably didn't go well together. Judging by that subtle shake, her weapon definitely wasn't supposed to be there.

As soon as Susie reached for the ax's handle, the recliner slammed itself together with a violent *BANG!*, the back- and foot-rests cracking into place. The whole chair jumped from the ground as the ax on its side swung forward in tandem. Whatever had held Susie's weapon in place lost its grip, launching the axe forwards like it was chucked out of an airplane. Susie could barely keep track of the weapon as it spun through the air and collided with the ground in the next second, ignoring any resistance Ralsei's hat might've offered.

It all happened so fast. Still recoiling, Susie glanced towards the ax, stuck in the ground about a dozen or so feet away. On either side of the ax's head lay two halves of a prince's hat. The symmetry was uncanny. Susie then glanced at the recliner, now sitting there motionless like it hadn't just committed hat-icide. She'd been sitting on it not even a minute ago.

"Susie?" Ralsei called again, now sounding worried. His voice was a little closer. Susie looked back at the torn remains of Ralsei's hat, then again to where his voice emanated from. An unfamiliar feeling settled in her stomach; one she was reluctant to recognize as guilt. Guilt soon transformed to panic, and hearing Ralsei's approaching footfalls, Susie instinctively sprinted towards the pile of cardboard boxes that Ralsei had moved past before. "What was that? Are you al—"

"Nothing!" Susie interrupted. She'd nearly slammed into Ralsei as he came back around the corner of junk. Thank God, she'd managed to stand between him and her ax in the nick of time. Paranoia made her spread out the full length of her jacket behind her anyways, putting out a hand to lean on the bounty of boxes in a way that probably looked anything but casual. Further amounts of paranoia forced her lips into movement. "It was just, y'know— nothing. Dumb chair. Don't worry about it."

Ralsei looked up at his comparatively taller companion. He made to glance around Susie, obviously curious. She moved accordingly.

"So what'd you wanna show me?" Susie tried, cursing the brief crack in her voice. Clearing her throat didn't help, nor did seeing Ralsei without his hat again. The big glasses and green eyes really had an… "effect" on Susie, one she was hesitant to familiarize herself with. Doing her best to ignore it (and failing in that effort), she took an awkward step forwards, half-pushing Ralsei back towards whatever had gotten him so excited earlier. Her jacket was still conspicuously spread out.

If nothing else, the rarity of her interest had gotten Ralsei to forget about what lay splayed next to her ax. He straightened his back, grinning again. The smile would've been more easily appreciated if Susie didn't feel so guilty about seeing it.

"It's over here," was all the explanation Susie was given. Turning around, Ralsei took a few steps around the pile of cardboard to return to… whatever it was he'd found. A relieved sigh left Susie's lips. Still, she didn't like the lingering regret in the pit of her stomach. Slicing Ralsei's hat in half, while an arguably hilarious accident, felt too mean-spirited for even her to enjoy. Less like vandalism and more like betrayal, in a sense. And she knew all about how much betrayal completely _sucked_. Plus, forcibly getting rid of Ralsei's hat was anything but convenient for her.

At any rate, just sitting around wasn't going to help her. Susie stepped through a slightly cleaner path to see Ralsei about skipping through the junk, creating a subtle wave-like effect in the red of his scarf. Under normal circumstances, Susie would've laughed at how ridiculous he looked. Knowing what happened to his hat, though, Susie felt she was excused from teasing him. For now, at least. Not to mention how the added bounce of his ears somehow made it _more_ difficult to make fun of him, not less. She'd get over actually seeing the fullness of his fur at some point.

Probably.

Ralsei stopped next to a relatively shorter object that looked out of place amidst all the other pieces of junk, resting on a stack of old music album covers. It certainly stood out on account of how much cleaner it was. Still rusty, but the condition seemed newer than usual. Susie couldn't quite recognize it at first. Apparently, Ralsei had beaten her in that regard, grinning proudly. Susie crossed her arms, glancing around for a couple seconds. This part of the junkyard was bathed in a cooler light than the rest of the place. As for where that light came from, it was anyone's guess.

"Well…?" she eventually asked, feigning an annoyed tone. By now, Ralsei was used to it, because his smile didn't waver in the slightest. He spread his arms apart like he was about to try and sell something to Susie.

"It's a phonograph!" he proudly stated. Susie tilted her head, her arms still crossed. One of her fingers began tapping just under one of her spiked bracers. Ralsei simply kept his smile like he just found a pony made from diamonds.

"O…kay?" Susie replied. Whatever Ralsei was so excited about didn't reach her. The copious amounts of half-eaten camping supplies strewn around looked more interesting. "What's so special about a… photo-graph? Wait, that's something else..."

"Phonograph," Ralsei corrected. There was a certain teacher-like authority in his tone that Susie very nearly mocked, were it not for… well, it was obvious by now. Instead, Susie listened to him, struggling to feign some degree of interest. "I've read a bunch about these. They're old machines that play music from these things called records. Nowadays, they're kind of novel, but still!"

Susie nodded exactly once, which was still something of an exaggeration of her actual interest. As much as his white fur drew Susie's eyes to Ralsei, he could still sound way too much like a teacher. The phonograph looked like a weird fusion of a trumpet and a lockbox to Susie. Saying she was unimpressed was an understatement. Silence only reminded her of why she'd pretended to pay any attention in the first place, though, so she tried keeping some semblance of a conversation going.

"So it… plays music," she drew out, sounding bored. A huff of agitated air left her lips, blowing a few bangs of red hair from her eyes. "That's it?"

"Yep!" Ralsei confirmed. Susie really had to work overtime if she wanted to rain on his parade. Now, though, she… didn't really want to. She wasn't being soft, obviously; she was mean. It just… wasn't worth the effort. Susie grunted, then spotted a more colorful pile of junk out of the corner of her eye. An old wardrobe, it seemed. She dropped her arms to move towards the mound of various clothing items.

"'Kay, so…" Susie started, now inspecting the array of attire. More than old, most of the shirts and sweaters looked uncomfortably small. For her, at least. Conveniently, most of the clothes looked to be around Ralsei's size. Convincing him to actually wear junkyard clothing might've been a harder task than finding it. Susie crouched down to sift for some sort of headwear, still pretending to focus on that phonograph Ralsei had found. "Uh… what kinda music does that stuff play, anyways?"

Ralsei turned to get a closer look at the phonograph he was so obviously pleased about finding. Being more than happy to explain something, he paid little attention to why Susie was so desperate in her search through the clothes. She had to thank him in that regard. The prince placed a paw over the phonograph, rubbing some of the dirt and grime out of the flared brass.

"All sorts of music," he answered. The pride of his tone was palpable. A collection of more brittle chunks fell away from the device, revealing the cleaner sheen of wood and metal underneath. "Most if it tends to be classical, but some of the newer— or, newer old records— tried modernized theme-songs or fanfare to accompany events."

Ralsei noticeably paused, piquing Susie's interest enough to glance back up at him. Then, noticing once again how weirdly similar he looked to a plush toy, Susie snapped her head back towards the pile of clothes with a newfound desperation. There had to be some sort of hat in there.

"Oh, wow!" Ralsei exclaimed. Now he sounded just as excited as before, like he just found another old-timey music box. After some shuffling, Ralsei removed something from the phonograph, holding up an odd black cylinder in his paw. Then Susie realized she was looking at him again. "There's still a record in it! I wonder if…"

Humming, Ralsei put the record back in the slot he'd taken it from, smoothly sliding it back into place. There was an audible _*click*_ followed by a satisfied nod from Ralsei. Susie rose an eyebrow as the boy looked over the machine, apparently searching for something. The sight wasn't explicitly amusing, but there was that stubborn hint of interest Ralsei had recently gained that kept Susie's eyes on him.

"What're you looking for now?" Susie questioned. Beyond the grooved record and curve of metal serving as some sort of speaker, there wasn't much to the phonograph. Unless there was some smaller mechanism on the side of it.

"There should be…" Ralsei trailed off, speaking more to himself than Susie. That was fine by her; she had a hat to replace. Ignoring her companion for the time being, Susie returned to moving through the bundle of clothes. The closest thing she found to headwear was a ripped hoodie or two. Frustrating, to say the least, even if they were a matching green. Might've looked good on him under the right circumstances.

Wait, was she contemplating Ralsei's fashion, now?

Just as Susie reached the bottom of the mound of clothing and subsequently groaned, she heard Ralsei again. "There!"

He sounded more excited than before. Susie glanced up from her fruitless search to see Ralsei turning the phonograph to its left, exposing a small wooden handle jutting from the side of the box. No, not just a handle; it looked more like a crank of some sort. Now Susie was genuinely curious. Ralsei wrapped his paw around the protrusion, and twisted himself away from it to try to pull it.

Emphasis on try. The handle didn't move an inch, only shaking like it had been glued in place. As funny as it was to watch Ralsei struggle against it, Susie felt a brief frown pull her features together. Teasing him about his lack of strength somehow wasn't her highest priority. Neither was helping him, as it was still a little amusing to watch. For a short while.

One last glance towards the pile of clothes was given. Then, Susie rolled her eyes, placing a hand on her knee to stand back up. It wasn't going anywhere, she guessed. And she had to get used to a hat-less Ralsei sometime, too. That wasn't really a happy realization either, especially when she considered that she was the reason that the sight was mandatory. She really didn't do well with guilt.

"Step aside, short stack," she told him, her tone aptly gruff. Cracking her knuckles added to the effect. Surprised, Ralsei turned around to face her, nearly making her trip in the process.

_"Chill,"_ Susie reminded herself. _"Quit bein' weird. It's just a face."_

Only stumbling for a moment (hopefully), the monster girl forced herself next to Ralsei. Still he didn't seem perturbed by Susie's usually brutish behavior. He promptly let go of the phonograph's crank, though not without a soft smile. Susie let out another grunt, blowing some of her longer bangs out of her face as if to say "Whatever," without actually saying it. Her hand wrapped around the handle confidently.

A second later, that handle refused to move.

Frowning again, Susie yanked a bit harder, adjusting her fist around the smooth wood. It was hard enough to grip on account of how much smaller the part was compared to her hand. Even worse, Susie was getting similar vibes to the ones that recliner had given her earlier. They each had to have been thrown out for a reason, after all.

"Um, Susie," Ralsei spoke up. Right, he was watching her, too. "Self-conscious" didn't tell the whole story. Susie didn't relax her grip, pulling again and now jostling part of the phonograph. "Maybe—"

"I _got_ it," Susie assured him, her voice a little too aggravated. While usually stubborn, this case felt different. Too different to be taken comfortably. Ralsei watched nervously as Susie continued pulling on the handle, unable to match the girl's frustrated features. Another groan left her lips, sounding more like a growl. Then she relaxed her arms. Her boots planted themselves more firmly into the dirt and debris of the ground.

The next second, Susie threw her whole body away from the phonograph with a _*SNAP*_ , still grasping the handle. Technically. Also technically, she'd gotten it to move. As for the rest of the bar…

Both monster and prince moved their eyes towards Susie's hand, now holding about half of the phonograph's crank. The other half still stuck out from the wooden box, now with a sharp break in the metal where the pieces were once connected. Silent, Susie scanned back and forth over each piece of the phonograph.

"O-oh," Ralsei said after some time. Calling his tone disheartened was as accurate as it was… well, disheartening. "You broke the handle."

That much was obvious. Susie's posture dropped as she examined the smooth piece of wood in her hand, looking over the worn engravings. Her eyebrows creased themselves together, the girl grimacing at herself more than anything else.

"…goddamnit," she muttered. An uncomfortable warmth spread across her cheeks. First his hat, and then his latest discovery. Susie couldn't imagine she was winning any friendship points with Ralsei any time soon. Frustrated at both the fact that was important to her and the fact itself, Susie stared at the handle of the phonograph in her palm. Then, after an obligatory and directionless groan, she raised a shoulder towards the sky, ready to chuck the broken handle into the dump like a football.

A soft touch on her bicep persuaded her to pause.

"Wait," she heard Ralsei. An odd curiosity worked its way into his voice, similar to his features. He tilted his head in a brief contemplation. Something about the motion relaxed Susie's fist. A little bit, at least. "What about… the other way?"

Susie couldn't immediately understand him. What "other way" was he talking about? Tossing the broken handle backwards instead? After about four seconds of uncertainty, Susie looked back at the break in the phonograph, then to the handle she still held. Another four seconds later, she lined up the parts, and using what friction she could find between them, _pushed_ at the crank. Sure enough, it turned like a well-oiled wheel. The record began spinning simultaneously.

Dumbfounded, Susie stared at the handle as it moved, not paying any mind to the struggle of keeping two broken pieces lined up. Ralsei gave a short laugh like he just made up a terrible joke. Matching it in any capacity was impossible, what with Susie still busy with the guilt of breaking the phonograph's crank in the first place.

"That's all we had to do!" the prince stated, lightly tapping his paw against his forehead in a "Duh" kind of motion. Susie maintained her frown forwards. "Silly us."

Honestly, Susie was relieved that Ralsei wasn't too upset from her conviction to brute force. She wasn't relieved enough to do much about the shame in the pit of her stomach, though. It was a sucking kind of feeling, in both senses of the word. Not great.

"Cool," she grumbled. Some directionless glare worked itself on her features, combined with a distinctly upset pout. Her posture slouched as she continued with the phonograph's crank, not paying it much mind. "I'm mean and stupid. Awesome."

"What?" Ralsei quickly responded. His features were held in a confused frown, the prince likely not expecting to hear that. He switched back to his usually supportive self in a matter of seconds, because of course he did. "That's not true. Why would you say that?"

Susie only groaned again. It did feel like something of a pattern for her. Breaking things was something she was all too familiar with; breaking Ralsei's things was a combination of new and old that left a sour taste in her mouth. One that she really hated. She muttered to herself, shaking her head.

"Nothin'. Forget it."

As expected, Ralsei didn't quite do that. The concern on his features stayed right where it was. Susie glanced to the side, continuing to crank the phonograph as if to fill the silence. At least it took a while.

"Susie," Ralsei started again, sounding persistent, "you know you're not always that 'mean', right? You can actually be very nice—"

"—just—!" Susie interrupted, whipping her head back to face him. "I said _forget_ —"

Whatever agitated command she was trying to interrupt with became interrupted itself when the handle of the phonograph slid out of place, suddenly throwing Susie's arm forwards from the push she was using. The awkward direction of her grip drove a sharp break of metal across her scales in the next second, coercing a pained yelp from her alongside a rather abrupt couple of curse words.

"Susie!" Ralsei exclaimed in surprise, jolting a little. His eyes broadened as Susie held her injured hand in the other, dropping the half of a handle and seething out a few more curse words for good measure. That _really_ stung. A familiar warmth began trailing down her palm. Ralsei seemed able to tell as much, now leaning closer to get a better look. "Are you hurt?"

"What _d'you_ think, genius?" Susie spat back. She very nearly snarled at him. The prince's frown softened, having a sliver of hurt alongside his usual concern. It didn't exactly make Susie feel any better. Her own grimace fell to the ground, and she muttered a quiet addend to her answer, deadpan. Here was the "damage control" part of the routine. "…whatever. I'm fine."

No response was given. The broken end of the phonograph slowly worked itself around the opposite direction, spinning the cylindrical record accordingly. A grainy, somewhat-hitched sound began echoing from the phonograph's speaker, slowly rising in volume. It sounded like some kind of stringed instrument, like a violin or cello. The noise was too soft to be much of a distraction. Ralsei tilted his head to the side, ignoring the phonograph.

"…here," he said, holding out a white paw towards his companion. Susie continued cradling her hand, hunched over a little and only glancing at Ralsei for a second. The break in the phonograph's metal had felt really sharp. Looking at the damage of her hand had confirmed as much. Susie moved her eyes back towards her side, then downwards once again to Ralsei's height. His paw was still held outwards. Similarly, his face still held that usual degree of concern only he was able to have.

"…ugh," Susie grunted, feigning disgust. After an excessively long hesitation, she relaxed her hand a fraction, showing Ralsei the wound like she was showing him her diary. Not that she had one. Ralsei didn't say much as he looked over Susie's hand, but his expression said enough. It only weighted Susie's eyes to the ground once again. Wordlessly, he brought his other paw to her hand, holding it with a definite gentleness. A warm yellow light soon washed over the wound.

"I, um," he started slowly as he held the light over Susie's hand. A soothing warmth overtook the ache of her injury, but she still kept her eyes on her boots. The phonograph continued playing its soft melody. Ralsei spoke up again after a brief pause, somehow sounding both uncertain and confident. "I… meant what I said, Susie. You can be a very nice person."

Of course he hadn't forgotten about her outburst. Susie had secretly hoped otherwise, though knowing Ralsei, that was a complete shot in the dark. She shook her head, looking towards the fading scar on her hand. "Doesn't mean I am."

Ralsei hummed. He looked back down to Susie's hand with a surprising determination in the green of his eyes. "Maybe not _exactly_ ," he told her, "but that also doesn't mean you're not a good person."

Instead of some cynical or derisive response, Susie only glanced towards Ralsei, curious. There was a rare conviction in his tone; a kind of belief that had actually sounded endearing instead of just silly. Susie found herself listening in silence.

"Sure, you can be… rough, at times," Ralsei admitted, "but you still know what's right and what's wrong. You still try."

The soft glow of Ralsei's paw faded. Susie could tell she'd been healed well enough with just her peripheral vision. However, she didn't quite put her hand back to her side just yet. Ralsei hadn't moved his paw either. In fact, he lightly squeezed Susie's now-restored hand, holding it gently in both of his paws. His touch was still as soft as his features.

"Even if you don't always think so, you have a good heart, Susie."

All Susie did was stare back. The music at their side had moved past its intro into a fuller and lighter tone, continuously sounding grainy. Ralsei kept his eyes on his companion's, a soft smile on his lips. Barely, Susie could feel a hint of heat rise to her face, not too different than the warmth her hand had been bathed under a few moments ago. She had the errant thought that something about staring at each other should've been awkward, but that wasn't really the case. On the contrary, Susie felt remarkably… comfortable, at the moment. Then she realized why.

"I broke your hat," Susie blurted out in the next moment.


	2. Solo

"What?" Ralsei responded, as if ripped from a trance. He blinked for a couple of confused seconds. Then he glanced down at his paws, recognizing how delicately he held onto Susie's hand. A subtle tint of pink spread across his cheeks. After an odd hesitation, he let go, about throwing his paws back to his sides and trying to skip over that detail. "W-what do you mean, 'you broke my hat'?"

Susie didn't seem as successful in ignoring the sudden emptiness around her hand. Panic alone was all that allowed her to keep her momentum, and she spoke with a fervent rush, awkwardly trying to find a spot to rest her hands.

"I— uh," she tried clearing her throat, now a little flustered. She outright _murdered_ the moment. "Y-yeah. It was, um, an accident?"

Ralsei looked just as confused as before. Susie raised her hands defensively, trying to explain herself better and failing spectacularly. "Really, it _was_ an accident. See, I was trying to get the recliner to, y'know, _un_ -recline, right? So I put my ax in it— the handle, I mean— 'cause, uh, there wasn't a lever— but it didn't work, and then the ax got kinda stuck— after somethin' moved, but I don't know what, I don't know how those work anyways— but before, you left your hat, a-and—"

Her words stumbled to a halt, consistently ungraceful like a concussed ballerina. The befuddlement on Ralsei's features was similarly consistent. He only raised his eyebrows further, processing whatever he could glean from Susie's panicked speech. She couldn't imagine it was much. Music still filled the air beside them. After a considerable length of awkward shuffling, Susie heard her friend speak up again.

"So—wait," he tried saying. "You had placed your ax in a broken chair, and that— _somehow—_ led to... destroying my hat?"

Susie wrung her hands again, one of them feeling much warmer than the other. "Uh… yes?"

The prince fell silent. Susie coughed for a moment, more-or-less trying to hide behind the bangs of her hair. Damn her past self for cutting them to a manageable length. Then, as if someone just hugged him, Ralsei broke out into one of his usual small-fanged smiles.

"Aw, it's alright," he told Susie, casually waving off whatever conflict she'd implied. His scarf waved in a similar fashion. "It was an accident, right? Accidents happen."

Stunned, Susie froze her hands, one palm pressed up against a spiked armlet. Indifference was what she'd _hoped_ for; straight-up _understanding_ wasn't a luxury she expected. Or even really wanted.

"No, like—" she tried again, assuming Ralsei didn't hear her properly. Given her lackluster explanation, maybe he did and was still failing to grasp what she was saying. That explanation might've worked, too. "I mean, it was really stupid. _Really_ stupid, man."

Ralsei raised his eyebrow again, confused like before. The main difference was the persistence of his grin. He rose his paws from underneath his robes, shaking his head. "It's okay, Susie. I know you didn't mean for that to happen, right?"

Despite the attempt at assurance, Susie only grunted in aggravation. He was supposed to be _upset,_ damnit. The hell was this nice crap? Maybe the music wasn't helping. Susie spoke with an obvious displeasure and trademark groan. "Yeah, but it still _happened_. How come you ain't… y'know, mad?"

The notion appeared foreign to Ralsei. Knowing him, it probably was. He adjusted his scarf, either uncomfortable or unaware of Susie's expectations. Probably both. "I, uh—" he stuttered. "Did you… _want_ me to be mad?"

"Duh!" Susie answered, like she was just asked if she enjoyed eating. There was a comical hint of irony somewhere in their conversation. Susie was too frustrated to notice, stomping her boot onto the fragments of junk she stood on. "'Cause, y'know, that's what people _do?_ Get mad when stupid people break their crap?"

Ralsei's grin faded. Unfortunately, it wasn't replaced by any kind of grimace Susie had hoped for. His features were still as soft (both physically and metaphorically) as ever. "But… it was an accident. I know you didn't mean to, so why would I be mad? Your intentions weren't there."

Weirdly, Ralsei chuckled, raising a pure-white paw to the back of his head. It was like his smile never left in the first place. "Isn't that how accidents work?"

He really couldn't be mad if he wanted to. Realizing this, Susie stared at him, unsure of what to do with the guilt in her stomach. According to him, it was useless. She still wasn't so ready to discard the feeling, regardless of how much lighter Ralsei had made the burden. Call it an old habit. Susie hesitated for a considerable length of time.

"I just—" she eventually said. The aggression in her voice disappeared like the wound on her hand from earlier, making her tone a quiet mumble at best. "I dunno, I thought I… deserved it. Or something."

Yellow teeth sank into her lip in embarrassment. Most of her experiences would contradict Ralsei's lack of blame. Even being alone with the guy made her think that some kind of yelling was imminent. Like he could get away with more, in a sense. Guess she still wasn't that used to him. The fact wasn't too comforting, but it was admittedly offset by Ralsei's usually supportive nature.

And his face.

"Mh," Ralsei hummed, glancing away in some thought that conveniently allowed for a few more furtive glances at his features. So much for getting accustomed to a hatless Ralsei; his casual way of shrugging off the destruction of his hat made it harder for Susie to look at him, in a way. Made him see more… something. Endearing? Susie couldn't think of the word. The only one that came to mind wasn't really supposed to be in her vocabulary, and the soft music reminding Susie of those old kids' movies wasn't helping her comb her mental thesaurus.

"I wouldn't say you really 'deserve' anything like that, Susie," Ralsei told her, returning his green eyes to a surprised pair of hazel ones. The boy took a half-step closer, reducing the distance between their boots to little more than a foot or two. Subsequently, Susie perked her head up. "No one ever tried to make mistakes."

The experience she built up to this point let Susie shake off the magnetising nature of Ralsei's furry face after one mandatory hesitation. A huff of air left Susie's lips as she returned to the just-as-uncomfortable conversation at hand. She wasn't irritated, exactly, but not really at ease, either. A weird sort of in-between state. "I know that," she responded, shaking her head. "But… I dunno, with how many _I_ make? Not so sure."

There was a borderline hollowness in her voice despite the proximity of her friend's features. Ralsei being himself, he picked up on that, leaning a fraction towards Susie and tilting his head. Susie couldn't really appreciate the offset of his ears at the moment. He spoke somewhat quieter than before.

"Maybe that just means you have more to learn," he said. His voice was surprisingly youthful for what he was saying. "And you _are_ learning. No one can start with the right decision every time."

Susie snorted. _Whatever_ he was saying, it was making her feel a bit better in _some_ capacity. Enough to where she could comfortably reciprocate a portion of his good will. "I dunno about that either, man," she told him with a smirk. "Seems like _you_ got a knack for that stuff."

A shrug and a grin proved to have a similar effect to Ralsei's words. That was just him in general, Susie guessed. Broad as his words were, they had a certain charm to them. A kind of refreshing honesty. His face had definitely gave him a persuasive edge, but Susie still wasn't about to admit as much. She _did_ allow herself to admit her gratitude.

"But, uh," Susie started again, faking another cough. So much for being the mean one. Then again, that wasn't a title she'd miss. "…thanks? For… saying all that. I guess."

Smooth as sandpaper. Ralsei didn't appear to be all that put off by Susie's fiasco of a "thank you", the prince simply continuing his grin with a nod. It was kind of nice to look at, honestly. Susie found herself staring a couple seconds too long, then shook her head. Maybe a little too conspicuously.

The music at their side temporarily grew louder, a swath of fervent violens taking over the previously placid song from before. Both Delta-Warriors glanced towards the phonograph, surprised at the abrupt explosion of energy. Ralsei blinked, his grin fading for a moment. Then it returned to his features with a newfound excitement unfamiliar to Susie's eyes.

"Oh, this is _beautiful_!" Ralsei proclaimed, already moving to the high-pitched strings like a reanimated snowman. Minus the hat, of course. Susie observed in silence as her friend began stepping and shuffling to the song without any visible hesitation. His movements were subtle, at first; the kind of motions that people could only bring themselves to do when they were uncertain if somebody was watching or not. Ralsei didn't have that usual air of anxiety, though. It felt more like he was staying simple for the sake of grace. The junk under Ralsei's feet didn't seem to perturb him too much, the prince moving with an elegance also unfamiliar to Susie. A half-second later, she recognized his strange moving and rotating through the thin layer of junk underfoot.

He was _dancing._ Not in any of the usual abhorrent and/or athletically impossible routines, but he was definitely dancing. To _orchestral_ music, nonetheless (also defined in Susie's vocabulary as "old-fart" music).

Forget the left field, that was from an _entirely different stadium._ Eventually, Susie thought to say something. As far as what she was _supposed_ to say, that was a different story. All she could really accomplish was an indescribable stare as Ralsei flowed with the music, his eyes closed in content. Susie had a hard enough time thinking of what to say when she _wasn't_ struck so incredulous by the sight of him dancing. Dancing _without his hat on_ , no less. The only thing she could rely on was the collection of past habits she had been attempting to forget.

"You look... ridiculous."

Each of the three words tumbled from her mouth like sacks of bricks. They didn't even feel like hers at this point. That didn't mean she felt stupid for her technical ownership of them. Immediately, Susie's features twisted up in a regretful scowl, pushing her face towards the ground to avoid any sort of connection her expression implied. Ralsei responded after a brief hesitation.

"Isn't that part of the fun?" he asked, still sounding cheery. To say Susie was caught off guard was an understatement. She thought for sure that he'd deny how "ridiculous" he looked, or at least— _God forbid—_ stop dancing with that charming shyness of his. Ralsei's question made it sound like Susie was rubbing off on him without actually affecting his mood. That would've been too good to be true, if that was the case. Depending.

Ralsei continued his little dance along with the music, then stopped again, eyebrows creased in contemplation. His footfalls approached Susie with an odd lack of rhythm to them. The girl was too busy inspecting the yellow of her boots to notice much else. For a brief moment, Ralsei paused, then spoke up again with an obvious eagerness.

"Why don't you join me?"

Two for two. Surprised again, Susie's features snapped back up, unsure what expression to manifest now. Ralsei's own face was persistently bright, but that wasn't unusual enough to distract her from his question. Was she still supposed to be the stupid joy-kill or not? Experience told her yes, though it wasn't something she _wanted_ to listen to. Just that she didn't have anything else to go off of. The girl rolled her eyes after collecting herself (to some degree).

"Pft," she told him, feigning a sarcastic tone. Better to be safe than sorry. "Me? Dance? Didn't know you did jokes now."

Ralsei's cheeriness stayed right where it was, which was the one thing that _didn't_ surprise Susie. Something to be thankful for, she thought. Ralsei continued with a definite persistence that got to Susie's sense of "mean" experience. Also something to be thankful for. "It's okay if you can't dance," Ralsei said, still smiling. "I can show—"

"Don't be stupid!" Susie exclaimed with an out-of-place aggravation. Again, going off of an instinct she built up for years wasn't proving to be a good option for Ralsei's sake. At least, it seemed to be making _her_ feel worse rather than him. "Of course I _can_ dance. I just don't."

There was a puerile grumpiness in her voice that might've been endearing under the right circumstances. These didn't feel like the right circumstances. Ralsei didn't seem to agree, keeping his grin just as wide as before. He also seemed to be able to read past Susie's instinctive outbursts like some patient parent. Judging by how unperturbed he was, Susie guessed she was right to assume as much.

"Why don't you dance?" Ralsei asked curiously. He gestured towards the phonograph, the machine still filling the junkyard with its energetic string of strings. The snapped handle rotating at the machine's side made it stick out less among the various baubles of garbage, ironically enough.

"'Cause," Susie began to answer. Her voice faltered for a moment, losing its usual gruffness in favor of uncertainty. Hiding that part of her tone was probably a futile effort. "It's—it's stupid. Dancing's stupid."

Ralsei's head tilted to the side, the prince still not put off. Maybe he was just used to Susie being the kill-joy. Whatever the cause for his resistance was, Ralsei continued with the subtle arcs of his arms. They broadened in tandem with the phonograph's melody.

"I think it's fun," he responded. Susie kept her grimace to the ground, unable to direct it anywhere else. Her instinct to sneak a few glances towards Ralsei was momentarily overtaken by her instinct to maintain her "mean" reputation. There was an undefinable third instinct that told Susie Ralsei was fully aware of her internal debacle. Like a child's waning tantrum, Susie eventually felt the tight cross of her arms relent about a dozen seconds later, hands lazily dropping to her sides. Ralsei didn't push any further as he kept swaying to the melodic tunes emanating from the brass of the phonograph.

"...just-" she mumbled, grumbling like that child was offered a cookie if they finally shared their favorite toy. Ralsei raised his eyebrows towards the pink of his horns, curious. Susie swallowed as much stubborn pride as she could with a palpable reluctance. "-this isn't… like, even dancing music."

Accomplishing as much as a lackluster excuse was as far as she'd gotten. Wow. Susie was ready to put a palm to her face so hard her freckles would fly off. Before she could cock the gun of her arm, Ralsei glided towards her with a spontaneous urgency. Still with that pointy smile of his, too.

"Of course it is!" Ralsei countered. His features glowed brighter than his palms did whenever he cast one of his usual spells. It was like Susie's childish grunting and whining had been interpreted as some search for permission. Susie's scowl melted completely as Ralsei placed a paw in each of the girl's loosely held hands. "I'll show you!"

Susie blinked a few times. Ralsei had been in such an enthusiastic rush that the deadpan incredulity he'd incited in Susie had caused some backlash when she was unable to move for a few moments. His eyes darted over Susie's as the boy realized the extreme gap of awkwardness he'd indirectly given the both of them. That gap leveled out between the both of them over the next few seconds, which didn't translate to Susie's discomfort dissipating. The rising temperature of her cheeks was an apt enough visual.

Barely, Susie could feel her friend fidget uncomfortably. His smile morphed into a tight-lipped grimace that spoke volumes. Most of what Susie could hear was some variation of awkwardness or befuddlement. Considering that was all she could convey, Susie didn't blame Ralsei. Each of the prince's paws were hidden by the purple of her hands, fur soft in her palms. Susie felt her eyes pin themselves towards feeling. Needless to say, it was new to her.

Uncertain, Susie contracted what few muscles she could still voluntarily control to bring her fingers tighter together. Now she was actively trying to hold her friend's paws in a terribly loose grasp instead of just having them end up that way by circumstance. Hearing the music swell up again for a moment, Susie finally unhinged her jaw and pushed some words through her throat.

"Hah," she let out with an inaudible incredulity, "your paws're so small, man."

That was the best she could come up with? The fact that Ralsei's paws weren't as large as her obnoxiously boyish hands should've been as surprising as a b-movie. Though, it was more feeling that difference in size that was more surprising, with emphasis on the "feeling" part. A few seconds later, Ralsei looked up from their shared grasp, evidently distracted. It sounded like he had a shake of his own in his voice, but Susie wasn't too sure.

"Hehe," he uncertainly chuckled. Even his nervous voice sounded endearing. "Yes… your hands feel really big. And, um…"

He audibly gulped for a moment. "…strong."

Susie had to consider if that was a compliment or not. As to what type of compliment that would even be, though, she wasn't sure. Deciding not to decipher it, Susie hummed back as a form of acknowledgement. It was about as helpful to their exchange as she expected. She rocked back and forth on the heels and toes of her boots, hearing a subtle crunching of some plastic sheet underfoot. Besides that, only the music next to her made any sort of noise. Susie feigned a cough.

"So, um, now what?"

Ralsei broke himself from some kind of distraction again, then shook his head, subsequently creating a wave-like effect in his ears. "N-now we dance!"

The music continued in the background, soft and grainy. Ralsei's boots remained frozen in place, as if glued to the ground. Similarly, Susie waited, glancing at the surrounding junk. There was the old wardrobe she'd looked through before, a few back-halves of bicycles, some rocks covered in bite-marks… None of it really helped the situation.

"Right," Susie eventually grunted. Confusion let the depth of her cheeks' color fade, though she wasn't feeling particularly optimistic about the transfer. "but like… how, though?"

That seemed to throw Ralsei for a loop. He blinked, his eyes darting between Susie's hands. Her pointed fingers held themselves loosely around his paws in a grip none too strong. Almost delicate, now that Susie thought about it. She was really just paranoid of accidentally crushing him. Hearing Ralsei's hesitation, Susie cleared her throat, hoping to at least clarify for him.

"I mean, I can dance— obviously—" Susie shrugged to add to the effect. "—but, uh, how do _you_ … do it? With other people."

"Uh, well, you see-" Ralsei stuttered. Now he was moving back and forth on his feet in a familiar nervous habit. Just a second ago, Ralsei had been more than ready to share something so arguably silly with her, and now he was fumbling over his words like he just realized his fly had been down the whole time. His robe would've covered such a revelation, so Susie wasn't entirely sure where all that vim and vigor had so suddenly vacated. The fur on his cheeks grew a few shades pinker. Kind of hard for Susie to look away from. "I've never really… uh, that is-"

After a couple more stutterings and shuffling, the prince tried clearing his throat. "I've never actually… danced with someone. Before."

Susie pursed her lips. A few moments passed. Ralsei did his best to give her an apology with his features alone, sheepishly grinning in that way that tended to get on her nerves. With other people, that is. On Ralsei's face it proved surprisingly charismatic, in a sense. Susie spoke slowly, trying to understand her friend's intentions.

"So you… wanted me to dance, _with you_ … but got no idea how?"

Ralsei gulped, removing one of his paws from Susie's grasp to pull at the scarf around his neck. It looked like he wanted to nibble at the red and talk at the same time. He settled on the latter option.

"Ah, something like that…?" he told Susie. There was a nervous sweat surfacing on his fur. Somehow. "I suppose I got ahead of myself. That is, I _do_ know how to dance, just… not with other people. I've only really ever… danced on my own."

Susie felt a frown crease her eyebrows together. Part of her still thought dancing was ridiculous, even more so when the supposed "experienced one" didn't know how partners worked, but another part of her was curious. Curious enough that her tone was more genuine than expected, given the circumstances.

"On your own?" she questioned, tilting her head into her jacket's collar. Ralsei still looked pretty embarrassed. His paw seemed to be fidgeting in Susie's hand again. "What, couldn't find a partner for prom or something?"

Some of Ralsei's awkward apprehension was replaced by a weird-looking smile. Susie didn't know what about it exactly looked strange, and figuring out even that much let her own apprehension fade in favor of curiosity. Ralsei let out an anxious laugh before speaking in a similarly strange way. "Heh, I suppose you could say that."

Not much more was said. The phonograph continued playing at their side, filling the air with an elegance unfamiliar to Susie's ears. She kept her eyes on Ralsei, still curious. Her hand tightened a fraction.

"I mean," she tried again, "...did you actually _ask_ anyone to dance before…?"

Ralsei's face fell for a moment. Briefly, his grin broke like a child's toy. Susie's features twisted themselves tighter as an effect. Then Ralsei looked back up again, raising his free paw towards Susie's open hand.

"W-well, I've never… really had the chance before, right?" There was a definite effort to keep his grin, but it seemed almost… empty. Forced. "But! Now I do! So don't worry about it!"

Still he didn't move to the music, or really at all. Susie's shoulders dropped for a second, the girl simultaneously confused and concerned despite Ralsei's wishes. That atypical last part of his words was an influential factor in Susie's investigation.

"Wait, what do you mean, 'never had the chance'?" she questioned. As much as Ralsei wanted to return to his failure to dance, he was giving Susie too much cause for concern for that to seem immediately practical. "I'm missing something here. Aren't you a prince or something?"

Ralsei appeared to hesitate for a couple seconds, his features frozen. Then, the fragments of his grin melted into a grimace, a deep sigh rushing from his lips. Susie felt the subtle tension in his paws fade into a loose grasp a best. His voice had carried the effect almost too well.

"Y-yes, but…"

He spoke quietly. Susie hated to admit it, but she recognized the tone in an instant, if only out of experience. "But I… I've never had any subjects, or…"

The next hesitation was only exacerbated by the light tune accompanying their conversation. Susie waited in silence, having a vague idea of what her friend was going to say next.

"Or… anyone."

If there was anything harder to get used to than the softness of Ralsei's features, it was those features being pulled into a sorrowful pout. Susie's expression softened, her eyes fixated on Ralsei's. He fell into silence once again.

"You were… alone?" Susie realized. Ralsei nodded exactly once, watching the stillness of his own boots. The sight was torture. Knowing the reasoning behind the sight was even worse. Susie knew loneliness; it was practically her bedfellow. Imagining Ralsei having to go through something like that didn't sit well with her. At _all._

"…yes," Ralsei eventually responded. The confirmation hit Susie like a bus. There was a kind of dejection in his voice. The last time Susie heard him sound like that was… never, really. "Until I met you and Kris, I've just been waiting in my castle. Alone."

The prince shuffled in place, obviously displeased by the memory. Susie was too. She glanced towards her hands for a second, still delicately holding onto Ralsei's paws. A persistent shard of disbelief reanimated her lips.

"There—there had to be _someone,_ though, right?" Susie tried. She hated the desperation of her voice more than the stuttering. "Like, all those stores or whatever around the castle— or, through that huge door, there's…"

Ralsei shook his head. His glasses were lower on his face than usual. "I've looked," he told her. "I've searched for others for years. The door remained shut, the lands barren… no one but me."

Having to hear Ralsei's pained voice proved painful in its own right. He really didn't have anyone to talk to for his whole life? At least Susie had the opportunity to bully (or even simply watch) her classmates. To be devoid of even that much…

Ralsei began fidgeting in place again, robe swaying with his nervous movements. His voice mixed with the momentarily slower tone of the music next to them. "So… I suppose I never learned how to do anything special with my friends, because I never…"

His words halted again. Susie filled in for him, eyebrows still creased in a grimace.

"…never had any."

Not even a nod was given. Ralsei's eyes stayed tied to the ground. More than displeased, he looked physically injured. Like he'd taken off a cast several weeks too soon. Susie racked her brain for something, _anything,_ to say to him. All he had wanted was to just dance with a friend. The conflict of Susie's reluctance seemed so trivial compared to the mountain of loneliness Ralsei had to deal with for so long. Someone as optimistic and friendly like him deserved a helluva lot better than that. Even Susie could see as much, and she spent the better half of her life hiding behind her bangs of hair.

And she still didn't have the slightest clue how to articulate that. Something forced her mouth apart anyways.

"...hey," Susie heard herself say. Words came faster to her lips than to her brain. Maybe this wasn't a "thought-out" kind of thing to say, but for once, she allowed it, assuming that'd be a good thing. "I'm… sorry, for that."

That wasn't exactly an eloquent start. Ralsei was surprised regardless, looking back up to Susie's height. Hopefully she could find the words for his sake. "I know how shitty it feels to be all alone. And you… don't deserve that. Really."

Susie gulped, reminding herself that only Ralsei could hear her. Knowing what he needed to hear proved to be more motivating. Though, maybe the term "knowing" was generous. "You're really… nice. Kind, I mean. Like- you care a hell of a lot about _everyone._ You deserve more friends than anyone else I know, and it's stupidly unfair that you didn't even get one."

Whatever direction she was going towards, Susie went with it, using more and more blind faith as she spoke. "Look, you're the friendliest guy I know, man. Always going on and on about how we're a team, always trying to finish fights all peaceful-style…"

Ralsei's expression was difficult to read, primarily because Susie found herself unable to look at it for long. She never did do well with comforting people she cared about, mostly due to her lack of experience. "W-what I'm trying to say, is— even though you couldn't really show it, that didn't stop you from being so, y'know, _friendly._ You always try so hard to make friends with everyone, even when they're flat-out trying to kill you. Hell, you put up with _me_ of all people."

Susie paused for a second. The pain on Ralsei's features was currently absent, or maybe hidden. Being too preoccupied with deciphering her own words prevented Susie from knowing one or the other for sure. One last string of dialogue escaped her lips.

"It sucks that you had to wait so long, but now… at least we're not alone now, right? We got each other. Things... got better for us, and now we _can_ do all the stupid and ridiculous stuff friends do."

Ralsei kept his curiosity on Susie for just a little while longer. Her first go at encouragement probably didn't go as smoothly as she had hoped. Taking in Ralsei's silence, Susie let out an aggravated grunt, eyes shoved toward the ground. It wasn't exactly embarrassment she felt; more like disappointment. Another feeling she was all too familiar with.

"Not alone… now," Ralsei muttered, about whispering. Susie had to assume that he was still trying to process how that was supposed to make him feel better. For all intents and purposes, that was her target. Seems she missed by about a mile and a half.

"S-sorry," the girl grumbled. "That was stu—"

Before she could even finish her apology, Ralsei tore his hands from Susie's grasp. In the next second, he threw his arms around her torso, nearly tackling her in an embrace. Susie stumbled backwards, not expecting such a fervent rush from someone like him. He was locked around her tighter than a belt several sizes too small. Copying his silence, Susie stared towards what she could see of the prince, that being a few tufts of fur and two pink horns poking out from under her jaw.

Even a stuttering was apparently too much to give. Susie's arms stayed frozen outwards from Ralsei's initial rush, raised like a defunct machine. The violet of the girl's cheeks deepened towards a magenta-like hue with each passing second, Susie's face now superheated beyond what logic usually dictated. Disregarding logic tended to be the effect Ralsei recently possessed.

Ignoring it as much as she could, Susie tried untensing herself over the next dozen seconds with little success. Ralsei's embrace didn't loosen by even a fraction. Maybe that was a good sign? Susie liked to think so. Some more time passed as Ralsei kept himself around the girl.

"Thank you, Susie," he finally granted, face still just above the crest of her violet shirt. His horns brushed against the girl's jaw. "I… didn't know you could be so…"

He trailed off, apparently unsure of what to say. Susie didn't have much of an idea either. She was still processing the fact that he was hugging her. Everything from his robes to his arms felt soft and plush, like an overstuffed pillow. She coughed, once again doing her best to ignore the intoxicating effect of Ralsei's contact and finishing his statement.

"…sappy?"

"N-no," Ralsei assured her, making no effort to lessen his hug. Susie kept her arms at her sides, too paranoid to use them. "…well, not exactly. Just… emotionally mature, I suppose? But— I don't mean that in a bad way!"

Knowing Ralsei, she assumed as much. He couldn't insult a fly if he wanted to. Susie gave a half a shrug, somewhat dampened by Ralsei's grip. He was one hell of a hugger. In a good way, Susie found herself clarifying. The boy spoke again shortly, voice now devoid of the pained regret he'd earlier reminisced with. "And you're right. Things _did_ get better. We aren't alone any more!"

 _There_ was his usually breezy tone. Muffled as it was, Susie felt an instinctive smirk plaster itself on her lips at the sound. At least Ralsei couldn't see how dumb she probably looked with his face buried into her. Susie allowed herself to regain her own usually gruff voice, now comically confident.

"Hell yeah, 'course I'm right," she told her friend. Judging by the movement of Ralsei's horns, he nodded. After a brief hesitation, she lowered her arms, then hesitated again. Her eyes moved over the spiked bracelets adorning her wrists. A second later, two soft _*thuds*_ emanated from the dirt of the ground, and Susie lowered her arms around Ralsei's comparatively smaller body. His hug tightened. It felt… nice. Really, _really_ nice.

"I needed to hear that," she heard him say. Even muffled, the relief in his tone was palpable. Strange that such a sound could be reached in a musty old junkyard of all places, but hey, Susie wasn't complaining. "That means a lot coming from you, Susie."

Susie cleared her throat, feigning a casual tone. Her cheeks still felt warm. "Yeah, well, you're welcome. I guess."

They stayed like that for a short while. Next to them, the phonograph's music grew louder, accruing their gazes. Both monster and prince watched as the record gradually slowed down in tandem with the heightening crescendo of the machine's song. Brass and strings intensified, echoing from the phonograph like an approaching flock of birds before exploding into their one last note of the finale. Then, nothing but the grainy static followed. A few seconds later, the record stopped moving entirely, and the junkyard returned to its usual silence.

Minus the faint digging of Kris barely within earshot.

Humming, Susie looked back down at Ralsei, who matched her gaze upwards. They stared at each other for a few more moments, then simultaneously realized the persistence of their embrace. Releasing their hug was nothing if not awkward.

Susie was the first to speak, clearing her throat. "Ah, missed it. Darn." She rubbed the spots on her wrists where her bracelets used to be. Honestly, it was a tad more comfortable without them, cool as they were. Not to mention how much easier their removal had made hugging. That trade-off was _absolutely_ worth it, in Ralsei's case.

Ralsei took some extra seconds to recall what it was like to not be hugging. He took a step towards the phonograph, looking over it intently. Whatever he was thinking, Susie didn't hear it. Not for lack of attention; lord knows she was still looking over her friend's features. Learning how soft his fur could _feel_ destroyed any normalcy she'd had gained with just seeing it over the past half-hour or so.

"Aw, and now I…" Ralsei began, talking to himself. He paused, then turned back around to face Susie, features still soft. He offered an embarrassed shrug. "Well, I'm not going to pressure you, I just…"

Ralsei trailed off, sounding hopeful like before. God, it was worse than _actual_ puppy eyes. Susie crossed her arms, trying to turn away in vain. The lingering comfort she'd been fortunate enough to grant him wasn't helping. Well, not in the usual sense of the word. A finger tapped against her elbow in a faux show of impatience. Then she sighed, her arms dropping towards the ground in mock defeat.

"Ugh," she grunted, rolling her eyes. Of course, Ralsei perked up again, widening his smile. That much was overkill, since Susie was already stepping past him. She looked downwards for where she dropped the phonograph's crank earlier. For a moment, she glanced behind her, catching a glimpse of Ralsei's grin. Another obstinate groan left her lips.

About a dozen seconds later, she lined up the pieces again, pushing with the handle (a bit more carefully than before). Ralsei practically jumped for joy. Susie only rolled her eyes again, doing her best to suppress her own grin.

"Yeah, yeah," she tried playing off.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: So, yeah, definitely not fitting EVERYTHING in this chapter. Which means I gotta write another one I guess? I mean, yay more, but also, like, frick man I thought it'd be done by now. Bleh, sorry sorry sorry. The next one will probably be shorter as a kind of extra or epilogue btw. Hope you've liked the story, and I hope to see you around! Have a good one! :D


	3. Duet

"Arr'righty then, from the top."

A loud clap of self-satisfaction echoed throughout the junkyard. Susie glanced around the valley of refuse, rubbing her palms together with a newfound eagerness. A _downplayed_ eagerness, granted, but an eagerness nonetheless. On the surface, they were essentially back at the start. The phonograph's broken handle turned lazily as a grainy orchestra pushed out the silence from the brass speaker. Various bobbles of disposed trash laid strewn about the ground, including the vast array of clothing Susie had desperately perused like a panicking girl on prom-night. No such replacement for Ralsei's hat had been found.

Ralsei stood a handful of feet from her, already nodding his hatless head to the graceful swaths of strings from the music. His pink horns shone prominently through the pure white of his fur, round glasses bobbing in tandem with the rhythm. Even the scarlet of his scarf had a subtle wave with every movement. Susie had to wonder how he'd managed to get that effect to be as consistent as it was.

Susie herself listened to the rising song with a little less fervor. She glanced over the violet scales of her wrists, freed from the spiked bracers she wore earlier in favor of a more comfortable embrace. It wasn't Susie's usual priority, but being alone in some remote part of the junkyard allowed for some less conventional behavior without her usual anxieties getting in the way of a hug or two. Bonus points for the heart-to-heart she'd shared with her furry friend just a couple minutes prior. Waiting for the song to pick up, Susie shuffled in her boots, nonchalantly adjusting her black and purple jacket as if to fill the void of small talk.

After some nondescript threshold, one of Ralsei's nods was more indicative than rhythmic, and the prince took a purposeful step towards his partner. Susie feigned exasperation with one of her usual eye-rolls, though a little more difficulty was found in suppressing her aptly dumb grin. The girl's arms untensed as her boot eventually tore itself from the dirt underfoot.

"Ready?" Ralsei asked. He managed to pack more softness into one word than Susie could strain out of a paragraph. Regardless, Susie shrugged, trying not to pay too much attention as her hand reached towards one of the prince's paws. An awkward second later, Susie's normally brutish grasp wrapped itself delicately around Ralsei's. The opposing hand followed after.

Pausing, Susie looked towards the touch Ralsei offered. Then the girl's eyes swiveled themselves towards Ralsei's, seeing an encouraging jade meet her vision. The fact that he held so much more confidence despite the six-inch difference in height between them seemed… endearing, to Susie. Charismatic. She didn't tend to be one to admit as much while still having a pulse. Ralsei took a half step towards her as the music from the phonograph rose, making Susie well-aware that she indeed still had a pulse. One that was rapidly getting quicker.

Maybe now Susie could say why for sure. She was so caught up with her guilt and toughened outlook that she locked the word from even being in her brain. Now, though, that wall had been bulldozed, and Susie heard herself think, with complete confidence, that Ralsei looked unbelievably cute without his hat on.

Not in a weird way, though. Obviously. Just… really fricken' cute. Like, damn. He had those big green eyes and everything. And those furry ears? Talk about overkill.

"Susie?" Ralsei asked, his words shattering the girl's thoughts. She blinked away her befuddlement as best as she could. "Are you okay? You seem… distracted."

Re-entering the real world, Susie shook her head, some bangs of red hair messily attempting to block her face. They were too short to do much now save for a few tasteful strands lying in front of her yellow eyes.

"Eh," Susie tried, shrugging again. Were her cheeks always this hot? There was an inaudible squeak in her voice that she tried stomping into the ground with an overzealous cough. Her words continued after she regained her breath. "I'm good. Just, uh…"

She stalled for a few moments. "Guess I still dunno where to start."

Ralsei hummed, cocking his head to the side in contemplation. There was some truth to the faux reasoning; she honestly didn't know where to begin when it came to dancing. Though they were both in agreement that it was something they'd _wanted_ to do, the pair of Delta-Warriors shared about the same amount of experience in dancing with a partner. That was to say, they had a combined total of absolutely _no_ experience whatsoever.

Ralsei's boot tapped the ground in a few different spots as if to find something hiding in the dirt and scraps. Now that he was looking towards the ground, Susie took advantage of his redirected gaze to openly stare at his features. Before, she'd been too busy denying that she even _did_ stare at him to make much note of her friend's face. Between their shared isolation and honest conversation prior, though, Susie was much more ready to give Ralsei's countenance the attention it deserved.

"Here," Susie heard him say. She looked to where Ralsei's eyes lay after a brief hesitation, following them to both of their feet. He moved his foot an inch forwards like he was asking for permission. "I'll take a step forward, so you…"

Seemed simple enough. Susie moved accordingly, sliding herself backwards just enough to make space on the floor for Ralsei. He took the newly opened area with confidence, visibly grinning at their cooperation. Susie found the smile a little infectious. Hearing the music begin to swell into its stronger sections, Susie nodded towards Ralsei. "M'kay, now I'll…"

She trailed off, but had said enough. Ralsei returned his foot back to its original position, as did Susie. Just a simple step forwards and backwards and already they were both grinning like a pair of dummies. There was a unique kind of comfort in the simplicity.

As the music picked up its relatively placid pace, Ralsei motioned to his left. "Then we can turn," he said, watching his feet carefully. The gesture lagged well behind the phonograph's song. Susie followed slowly, gauging her own feet to avoid stepping on her partner's. They rotated a gracious quarter-circle before stopping to an awkward halt. Then, both prince and monster glanced back up to the other.

"Pft," Susie blew out with an amused smirk, "this all there is? Just steppin' and turnin'?"

A few chuckles escaped Ralsei's lips. "I suppose," he admitted. His shoulders rose in an embarrassed shrug. "It seems far simpler than I anticipated."

Susie nodded forwards, giving Ralsei the necessary hint for him to take a small step backwards. "That a problem?" she asked as she took over the once-empty space. Her hands clutched a little tighter to Ralsei's paws. Not to the point of crushing him; more in the vein of confidence than aggression.

Ralsei shook his head, then rubbed it against his shoulder to readjust his glasses. "Not at all!" he hastily assured Susie. His own steps grew more confident as if to reflect his voice. "I just mean… I'm happy it feels easy."

That was one way to put it. Susie hummed agreement, glancing for a moment to make sure they wouldn't bump into any unseen junk lying around. "Yeah," she replied. They turned like before, now a full 180 from where they more-or-less began. Without thinking, Susie's grasp untensed itself, leaving only the one hand around Ralsei's paw. "Feels almost…"

Her hand trailed from Ralsei's, gliding over the soft green of his robe before ending at his midriff. "…natural."

Susie waited for a brief couple of seconds, not feeling Ralsei's contribution to the easier half of their two-part "dance." Only the swath of the orchestra could be heard. She couldn't imagine her friend was somehow struggling with taking a single step. Curious, Susie glanced to Ralsei, then noticed that he did, in fact, seem to be struggling with taking a single step.

Maybe not struggling with moving, but he did seem to find difficulty in paying attention. His eyes were pinned to his side, the boy evidently surprised to find Susie's touch residing there. A light pink tinted his cheeks. Soon after, Susie mimicked his blush.

"S-sorry," she half-grumbled, starting to peel her hand from Ralsei. "Don't mean to be weird." True to her word, it _did_ feel natural. Natural to the point where she genuinely didn't give a second thought to her more personal touch. Heck, she didn't give a _first_ thought. Oops. Before her fingertips left Ralsei's robe, he whipped his features back to hers.

"N-no!" he told her with a brisk urgency. Ralsei's free paw moved on top of Susie's hand, stopping the girl's movements. She rose an eyebrow, nonplussed. Ralsei took a mental moment to dial back his desperation before gently pressing Susie's hand back onto his side, face still a few shades redder. "It's not— it's fine, Susie. I don't mind. Really."

A couple blinks of befuddlement passed. Susie glanced at the phonograph, then back to Ralsei's face. He gave an encouraging nod like he was helping her with some presentation to her parents. Some more seconds later, Susie returned the light pressure to Ralsei's midriff, subsequently alleviating the push he'd been giving.

Susie continued slowly, returning to their simple pattern in silence. Ralsei followed with about as much caution. Despite the awkwardness of their exchange, they did their best to follow after the music and slow their pace. Susie miraculously only stumbled two whole times; a feat that she attempted to downplay with an uneasy chuckle. A red tint warmed her cheeks once again.

"Uh, my bad," she tried apologizing on her third misstep. It wasn't doing her stupid blush any favors. Ralsei was unfazed by Susie's accidental attempts at kicking him, instead showing off his fanged smile and prolonging the heat of Susie's face. Somehow _teeth_ could be a cute feature, too. Who knew?

Eventually, the natural comfort eased back in like a familiar houseguest. Step, step, turn; step, step, turn. Maybe it wasn't really how people were _supposed_ to dance with a partner, what with the laughable simplicity of it all, but honestly, Susie didn't care. Ralsei probably didn't either, judging by how comfortably he relaxed into Susie's palm.

They moved in silence for some time, simply listening to the slowness of the music. The pattern of violin and piano, while paced in a way that usually would've thinned Susie's patience into a sheet paper, sounded atypically… happy. More upbeat than she would've assumed. Still slow, but definitely something nice. Something content.

"Um, Susie…?" Ralsei spoke up, his voice as soft as his grasp. Broken from her thoughts again, the girl glanced down to her companion's height. Some tufts of his fur tickled her chin. Wait, when had he moved so close? "Thank you."

A minor delay passed as Susie recognized the exact proximity they now shared. When they first started, the unspoken awkwardness of it all kept them almost an arm's length apart. Now Susie was practically sitting on top of him. It was a wonder they still had enough space for each other on the floor.

Eventually Susie recognized what Ralsei had said. Still confused, she grunted a brief acknowledgement. "Mhm," she said, not paying nearly enough attention to Ralsei's words. "You're welcome."

Ralsei grinned in that weird way that always quickened her heart a fraction. It was plenty accelerated in the first place. There was about one gracious inch between Ralsei's robe and Susie's jacket. Susie almost shook her head in an attempt to clear it, but the potential of hitting one of Ralsei's pink horns with her jaw felt too likely to be ignored.

" _It's just dancing,"_ she reminded herself. Even her thoughts were a desperate grumble at best. " _Just… dancing with your really cute best friend. Alone. Slowly. No big deal. It's normal. You're normal."_

She trudged through the soft music, doing her best to distract herself. The furthest thought she could award herself was whatever brought about Ralsei's vague gratitude. Now that she thought about it…

"Uh," Susie broke into the soft orchestra permeating the junkyard. Ralsei perked his green eyes up to her, a drop of curiosity mixing with the content of his expression like oil in water. Susie gulped, then forcibly unhinged her jaw again.

"What are we thanking me for, exactly…?"

There was an empty lull of silence just as Susie finished her question. Both of them similarly paused, halting their simple steps for the moment. Susie's eyes locked themselves onto Ralsei's like a magnet. The music gradually faded back in as Ralsei did his best to explain himself.

"O-oh, I just mean…" he began, even quieter than before. His voice was almost lost under the music's notes, which was saying something. Before speaking again, Ralsei took a half-step towards Susie, completely closing the distance to lean on her front. His head rested just above her chest. "I know you may think this is boring, or possibly a little… ridiculous, as you say, but…"

While startled by the boy's sudden lean against her, his preface shifted her focus away from the softness of his fur and more towards what he was saying. Reluctantly, Susie allowed herself to speak, as quiet as Ralsei. "I don't think it's _that_ ridiculous."

Ralsei visibly moved up a fraction, but still kept his head against Susie. God, his fur was intoxicatingly soft. And comfortably warm, too. He was like an overstuffed plush toy. Hearing him say anything further _while also_ processing how comfortable his contact felt was more than a challenge. "Really?"

"Hey, don't get ahead of yourself, chief," Susie hastily assured him. The girl shook her head in an effort to ignore Ralsei's more cuddly qualities. That ended up being about all of them, and it was as unfeasible as she assumed it would be. "Just… maybe not as dumb as I thought."

Ralsei digested her words for a couple moments. "Oh," he replied, both surprised and pleased. His grin might as well have been audible. "Well, I'm… glad you think so."

Susie grunted again, unable to escape the faint redness that stayed glued to her face like a leaf in wet concrete.

"And, what I mean," the Prince continued, "is— thank you for doing this with me, Susie. You're a good best friend."

With Ralsei now _actually_ in full-body contact with her, all sorts of thoughts and signals were firing through Susie's brain, not the least of which being " _Damn, I could hug the_ crap _outta him right now."_

Instead, Susie opted to just nod, her intensifying blush doing a better job of speaking for her than her mouth probably did. "Y-yeah, uh, no prob. Um. You… too."

Ralsei kept his grin, glancing to Susie's features for a moment. She locked eyes for a second, realized that was one too many seconds, and gave an anxious shrug with the usually anxious smirk. Ralsei chuckled for a brief moment.

"I like seeing you smile, too," he told her like some passing thought. There was an absent-mindedness to his tone. "It's very pretty."

Susie didn't quite stop dead in her tracks. Implying that she had built some sort of resistance to Ralsei's compliments would've been a realistic reasoning if she wasn't actively holding him by the midriff against herself; the movements of their dance had become a white-noise in the background by this point. No, it was the subtle elevation of her eyebrows that spoke volumes of her surprise. Ralsei heard as much, blushing a little himself.

"Uh," she stuttered again, her mind scrambling for any kind of practical response. She wasn't really used to compliments, much less ones calling her _pretty_ in any capacity. That could've lived on the other side of the planet for how closely Susie associated the word with herself. Her mouth shaped itself into the form of words without much consideration. "Y-your voice is… nice. Good for singing, I mean. It's… uh. Y'know. Kinda—y'know."

That was _several_ train wrecks. Ralsei had an interesting combination of surprise, happiness, and anxiousness on his features. Calling it difficult to interpret didn't do the challenge justice. He shuffled a little in place, each movement sparking with the hypersensitivity that comes with staying pressed into something for a while. Only that something was Susie.

"My bad," Susie apologized. She sucked with words even when she _wasn't_ so anxious about slow dancing with her really cute best friend (normalcy be damned). "Guess I just, uh, figured I was supposed to… pay it forward."

She coughed. "T-the compliment, I mean. Like, pretty sure that's a thing? I think."

"It is," Ralsei confirmed. His own blush appeared pretty persistent. "And you didn't have to do that, but thank you again, Susie."

This time, Susie only allowed herself to grunt acknowledgement. It wasn't eloquent, but it didn't dig her a deeper grave of embarrassment either. Ironically, Susie moved her attention to the simplistic dance she was sharing with Ralsei as a form of distraction. The phonograph filled in for the haphazard excuse of a conversation either person might've been able to offer. Now their silence felt almost forced. It wasn't excessively uncomfortable, but the awkward inexperience with compliments left a displeasing taste in Susie's mouth. The lack of frustration that their current moment held made any negativity stand out like a sore thumb.

Before Susie could try in vain to rectify her words once more, a light hum broke through the phonograph's music. Turning towards the device didn't reveal the noise's source. It was when that humming rose and fell with the song that Susie realized the source as her friend.

Ralsei had begun humming along with the music, comfortably pressed up against Susie, resting without fully dropping like a dead weight on the girl. His eyes were shut, a soft smile pulling at the corners of his lips, emanating a pleasing tune to accompany the music. Susie watched him for a couple moments. Feeling herself relax from the earlier awkwardness, she let out an approving huff of air.

"Yeah," she said as they turned in place. A few inaudible chuckles fell through her lips. "There it is."

Though it wasn't explicitly singing, Ralsei's melody had that same calming effect as he usually possessed whenever he cast one of his lullabies. Susie had fervently denied the effectiveness of them a long time ago; recreating that skepticism wouldn't be honest _or_ necessary at that moment. He did indeed have an excellent singing voice. What little tension Susie still held in her body melted away, and she comfortably followed with Ralsei's tune. The grasp on his midriff rose up a fraction as if to reflect the placidity he offered.

"Careful, dude," Susie warned after some time. Her voice could've been Ralsei's for how much gruffness and arrogance it'd lost. "Gonna make me fall asleep here in a sec."

Abruptly, Ralsei halted his humming, lifting his head a tad. An embarrassed blush spread across his cheeks. "A-ah, right," he stuttered. There was a unique kind of charisma the boy had when he was actively touching Susie _and_ apologizing at the same time. "Sorry."

Susie chuckled again. It was more of a tease than anything actually worth worrying about. Though, Susie would be lying if she said her eyelids didn't feel any heavier. "Nah," she shrugged off, listening as the music steadily slowed for a quieter section of the song. "It's alright. You're good."

Ralsei's horn brushed against Susie as the boy nodded acknowledgement. Silence returned to them once again, now devoid of that awkwardness or inexperience that plagued Susie from before. The now lack of humming wasn't felt with any longing or regret. It was just one of those silent understandings that Susie assumed best friends sometimes had with each other. The moment was plenty enjoyable with or without her best friend's beautiful voice.

For once, there wasn't anything Susie could think of that currently bothered her. The alien nature of the feeling was only exacerbated by how outright _comfortable_ she felt. It felt good to just relax with her best friend, holding him, doing some beginner's interpretation of a dance with him. For one of the very few times in her life, Susie felt… good. The silence helped with finding that clarity, but Susie instinctively broke it one more time, albeit softly.

"…hey, Ralsei?" she began, her voice hushed like she was trying to wake him up in the middle of the night. Ralsei brushed up against Susie once again in a subtle form of acknowledgment. Gently, Susie felt her thumb rub over Ralsei's, feeling the plush softness of his fur. A pregnant interlude of quiet passed before Susie opened her mouth again.

"I… really like this."

Neither person stopped, but a sliver of tension could be felt in Ralsei's body. His eyes glanced up to Susie's height, freezing on the girl's features. Not the guilty kind of freezing people do when they're caught, but that surprise that tended to accompany unexpected candor. His grasp adjusted for a moment over Susie's, gripping it tighter as he lifted his head just an inch off Susie's front. Then, a few seconds later, he rested back onto her with seemingly more ease than before.

"I… like this a lot, too," he said. Unknowingly, both Prince and monster began slowing down, their weight being pulled towards the other rather than the couple of basic steps their dance had demanded. Ralsei spoke with an honest fragility new to Susie's ears. "I… like _you_ a lot, Susie. I'm glad we could do this. Together."

Now, Susie stopped. It wasn't whatever subtext Ralsei might've implied, nor was it the whisper of a voice he used. Just hearing the authenticity of Ralsei's statement resonated with Susie so strongly that she stopped dead in her tracks, losing the scraps of motion she still had with him. He _liked_ her.

The boy tilted his head up towards her, a plain pinkness permeating his cheeks. Susie's own face had its fair share of redness among her freckles, so she wasn't about to judge. Not that her attention was really placed there, anyways. Each of their expressions had that fragile combination of anticipation and anxiety so rarely found on teenager's faces; eyebrows locked in elevation, wide eyes, and the subtle open-mouthed awe barely visible to each other. Susie looked into the green of Ralsei's eyes, her own muted hazel reflected back at her through the lens of his glasses. Encapsulated by the other, they stared for what felt like minutes.

Then, like a pair of pillows, their lips met, scales against fur, violet touching white. Susie felt herself lock up again at the shock of heat emanating from her mouth, warmer than any person had any right to be. Not necessarily hot or uncomfortable. Just… warm. Good. Something about it felt right. She kept her lips pressed against Ralsei's, melting into the kiss, entranced by the softness. Her head naturally tilted itself to the side, allowing Ralsei to move into the kiss himself. He pressed himself against her with a silver of force.

Susie felt her hands loosen from Ralsei's. They moved on their own, trailing up the green sleeves of his robes and finding themselves caressing Ralsei's cheeks. Still as soft as always. Ralsei's own hands wrapped around Susie's sides, delicate like before.

An eternity later, Susie forced herself to let up a fraction, noticeably hesitating before leaving Ralsei's lips. He seemed to hesitate more than she had, which was saying something. They allowed themselves to part, opening their eyes with the same delicate slowness that their bodies moved with. Like before, hazel stared into green, now with a substantially redder pair of cheeks. Neither spoke for quite some time.

"T-that was…" Ralsei stuttered, unable to say much. Susie assumed it'd be a similar challenge even if she tried. That didn't stop the instinctive part of her brain from speaking.

"Awesome," the girl muttered, eyes still glued to Ralsei. He blinked, surprised. A few moments passed. Then, one solitary laugh broke apart the stillness of his expression. Hearing the noise forced a much louder snort of laughter from Susie. The reaction subsequently pushed a couple more laughs out of Ralsei. Susie proceeded to join him, each Delta-Warrior falling into a laughing fit that shattered the unknown stillness that had locked their bodies in place. Their arms didn't move that far from the other despite the cacophony of chuckling.

The noise eventually died down after some time, strangely proportional to the growing volume of the music next to them. Despite the growing loudness of the phonograph as its song accelerated into the grand finale, all of Susie's attention was poured onto Ralsei. Millions of thoughts raced through her mind, but for once, it wasn't because of some paranoid anxiety or self-doubt. The unifying feeling echoing through herself was a sense of… she didn't know what to call it. Happiness, she guessed, maybe with a hint of excitement. Ralsei displayed the same ratio in his features, the boy grinning wildly as the last of his laughs subsided.

Susie's face suddenly moved down again, the girl planting another solid kiss on Ralsei's lips. He expected it as much as she did, his eyebrows shooting upward like a pair of bottle rockets. Before he could act on the sudden pressure his mouth was registering, Susie pulled away, looking simultaneously embarrassed and pleased with herself.

"Uh, sorry," she immediately apologized. Ralsei couldn't remember the last time she grinned so widely. The girl's grasp on his face relented as she gave a knowingly guilty shrug. "I, um, got a little… carried away, there."

Ralsei shook his head, laughing again. "It's alright, Susie," he assured her. "I don't mind." His own grip around Susie's midriff moved to a more natural position, allowing him to lean upwards towards her. He used the opportunity to place a brief kiss on Susie's cheek, tickling her freckles with his lips. This time, the gap between surprise and laughter was almost nonexistent.

Susie's stocky arms lifted themselves from Ralsei's features to wrap around him in a tight embrace. Their noticeable height difference caused him to be lifted from the ground, though his laughing was a far cry from any sort of complaining. Fittingly, the phonograph's finale exploded into that mass string of notes they heard from before around the same time. Ralsei did his best to match the hug around his larger companion, but for once, Susie had offered a better one. They held themselves against each other with a newfound confidence.

Suddenly, Ralsei felt his partner tense up. Their current embrace prevented him from seeing the girl's features. He moved himself back as best as he could, leaning away while maintaining the grasp between themselves. Susie's once happy features now seemed shocked, her eyes locked on some point next to them. Confused, Ralsei followed her gaze.

About ten or so yards away, Kris stood like a statue next to the pile of boxes that denoted the entrance to this clearing in the junkyard. Their eyes were hidden under the mess of their dark hair, leaving only a knowing grin visible on their face. They held a small dirty box in their gauntlets, a little smaller than a magazine. The words printed on the front of the box were large (and pink) enough for Ralsei to read them without much difficulty; "Mew Mew Kissy Cutie 2." Other than that, there wasn't much distinguishable about the human's features. Not a single word left their lips.

After one solitary nod, they turned around, and stepped past the pile of boxes in silence.

"…H-Hey! HEY!" Susie suddenly yelled after them, reanimating herself. The subtle redness of her face graduated into a burning blush. She looked like she wanted to chase after Kris, and got about one step in before recalling she was currently holding Ralsei off the ground. She glanced at him, blinking for a moment. A few seconds later, Ralsei's boots met the dirt of the ground like a pair of feathers. It wasn't often Susie was so obviously careful.

Exactly one second passed before Susie completely disregarded that caution and broke into a full-on sprint after where Kris had left, scrambling with an endearing kind of desperation as she called after them. "HOW LONG WERE YOU THERE!? Y-YOU DIDN'T SEE ANYTHING!"

Ralsei was left standing in silence, watching as Susie tore across the junk, nearly tripping over the pile of clothes she'd tore through earlier. She nearly lost her jacket, she'd moved so fast ripping around the pile of boxes Kris had disappeared through. Strangely, Kris seemed to be much farther than anticipated, as the shouting and stomping could be heard a good while after Ralsei lost sight of Susie. He didn't move right away. The Prince glanced back at the phonograph, its broken handle completely still. Next to that was the pair of spiked bracers Susie had tossed to the ground earlier. Something about the sight lifted Ralsei's lips into a small smile.

Shaking his hatless head, the Prince closed his hands around the spiky accessories, and began his trek back to his companions.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> A/N: Hey! I draw Ralsusie! I also wrote EVEN MORE Ralsusie! Check out my other stuff if you're so inclined! I hope you've enjoyed this story! :D


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